Blade: Trinity
| starring = Wesley Snipes Kris Kristofferson Jessica Biel Ryan Reynolds Parker Posey Dominic Purcell Triple H | producer = Wesley Snipes Avi Arad Cale Boyter Toby Emmerich | director = David S. Goyer | music = Ramin Djawadi | cinematography = Gabriel Beristain | editing = Conrad Smart Howard E. Smith | studio = New Line Cinema Marvel Enterprises Amen Ra Films Imaginary Forces Shawn Danielle Productions Ltd. | distributor = New Line Cinema | released = | runtime = 113 minutes 122 minutes | country = | language = English Esperanto | budget = $65,000,000 | gross = $128,905,366 }} 'Blade: Trinity' (also known as 'Blade III' or 'Blade III: Trinity) is a 2004 American vampire superhero action film, written and directed by David S. Goyer, who also wrote the screenplays to the first two Blade films. It is the third film in the Blade film series, following on from Blade and Blade II and it is based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, played by Wesley Snipes. The story continues in Blade: The Series. Blade: Trinity was Wesley Snipes' last theatrical release until 2009's Brooklyn's Finest. Plot The film begins with an opening narration about Dracula, told by Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds): : In the movies, Dracula wears a cape and some old English guy always manages to save the day at the last minute with crosses and holy water, but everybody knows the movies are full of shit. : The truth is, it started with Blade and it ended with him. The rest of us were just along for the ride. The film starts with a group of vampires, looking for "Drake", a.k.a. Dracula (Dominic Purcell). They subsequently find and wake him in a Syrian ziggurat tomb, although not before he kills one of their own number. Being unaware of the existence of vampires, the world considers Blade to be a serial killer. The vampires capitalize on this misconception and succeed in framing Blade (Wesley Snipes) for the killing of a familiar posing as a vampire. During the ensuing manhunt, the FBI locate and attack the hideout. During the siege, Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) is mortally wounded and perishes after setting the hideout self-destruct. With his mentor gone, Blade allows himself to be captured. The police prepare to hand Blade over to a group of supposed federal agents, who are, unknown to them, vampires. But he is rescued by Hannibal King and Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel). The two head a group of vampire hunters called the Nightstalkers, formed by Blade's mentor to assist him. King and Abigail reveal that the vampire Danica Talos (Parker Posey), who turned King into a vampire in the past (but now cured), has located Drake. Talos hopes that by resurrecting him, Drake will help save the vampire race by producing more daywalkers, and eliminate Blade. In his first confrontation with Blade, Drake shows an affinity for Blade, as they are both "honorable warriors". Ironically, while Drake is delivering his speech about honor, he is hiding behind a baby he has taken hostage; however, he appears to consider humans as unworthy of any consideration unless they first prove themselves. During the chaos, King is incapacitated by Drake. Blade eventually learns of a bioweapon the Nightstalkers had created called Daystar, an airborne virus capable of killing every single vampire in the world. However, there are two catches. The first is that they need Drake's blood and it must be infused with the virus. As he is the first vampire, his DNA is still pure, which, infused with Daystar, will make it work to its maximum efficiency. The second: the virus could possibly kill Blade, since he is half-vampire. Blade and Abigail learn of the vampire "final solution", which involves a warehouse where hundreds of homeless humans are being kept "alive" in a chemically-induced coma, trapped in body bags. This keeps in line with vampires needing live food sources if the vampire race were to take over the world. Blade has all of them put out of their misery, shutting down their life support. The two return to find the Nightstalkers have been all but wiped out. The only exception is King, who has been kidnapped by Drake, and a young girl named Zoe (Haili Page), the daughter of one of the Nightstalkers. Blade and Abigail go to the Talos building to save their friends. Meanwhile, King is chained and tortured by Jarko Grimwood (Triple H) and Asher Talos (Callum Keith Rennie) for information about Daystar. When this fails to get any information from him, Talos threatens that she will bite King and leave him to feed on Zoe. Drake tries to convince the young Zoe to become a vampire so that she won't have to die. He tells her that there is no God, heaven or angels, Zoe simply states to Drake "My friends are coming to kill you". Blade and Abigail eventually enter the building, and the fighting begins after they freed King. Abigail kills Asher and King kills Jarko Grimwood while Blade engages Drake in a sword battle. In the end, Blade impales Drake with the Daystar arrow, and releases it into the air, killing all the nearby vampires, including Talos. He then honors Abigail and her fighting skills by making her a full-fledged "blade." As Drake dies, he praises Blade for fighting with honor and tells him that through Blade, the vampire race will survive. Dying, he offers Blade a "parting gift"; he also warns him that the thirst will eventually win. From here there are multiple endings: * '''Theatrical ending: As Blade fought honorably, Drake gives him a "parting gift" by transforming his body into a replica of Blade's just before he dies. The FBI captures the body of who they think is Blade and thus call off their manhunt for Blade. In the morgue Blade's body reverts into that of Drake's. Hannibal's voiceover tells the viewer that Blade is still out doing what he does, and that the war will never end. * Unrated ending: The body captured by the FBI is Blade, but he's not really dead. He sits up abruptly in the morgue, attacks the FBI agents, and appears ready to bite a nurse on the neck. The ending is ambiguous as to whether Blade is actually Drake surviving The Daystar Virus or the real Blade retaining his humanity or giving in to his vampire thirst, or becoming the new vampire messiah as Drake predicted. This is the ending seen on the director's cut of the film, and commentary on the DVD indicates it was the ending director Goyer intended. * Werewolf ending: The Daystar virus circles the globe and wipes out all vampires. Blade walks off into the sunset, his long battle finally over. The final shot is of the Nightstalkers battling a new enemy... werewolves. This version of the ending was used in the novelization of the film and is included on the DVD as an extra; , it was rejected for use in the film itself early on in production, due to similarities to the vampires versus werewolves in the Underworld series, the discontinuity with the back story, and for simply being too silly in Goyer's opinion. Cast * Wesley Snipes as Eric Brooks / Blade * Jessica Biel as Abigail Whistler * Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King * Dominic Purcell as Dracula / Drake * Kris Kristofferson as Abraham Whistler * Parker Posey as Danica Talos * Callum Keith Rennie as Asher Talos * Triple H as Jarko Grimwood * Natasha Lyonne as Sommerfield * Haili Page as Zoe * John Michael Higgins as Dr. Edgar Vance * Patton Oswalt as Hedges * James Remar as FBI Agent Ray Cumberland * Eric Bogosian as Bentley Tittle Production David S. Goyer had originally planned for the film to be set 20 years after the events of the second movie where the vampires finally had achieved world domination and enslaved all humans, with Blade being the last hope for humanity. Blade's slower aging could be explained by his vampire blood. The storyline was deemed too dark and was later dropped. Colin Farrell was offered the role of Hannibal King, but turned it down. Ashley Scott was considered for the role of Abigail Whistler. Even though it is the third movie in the "Blade" series, this was the first movie to have the Marvel Studios logo at the beginning of the movie. Originally, Blade was to have an on-screen sex scene in this film, after not including a sex scene in Blade II nor Blade. Both Wesley Snipes & David S. Goyer stated this on the Blade II DVD commentary. For unknown reasons, the planned sex scene was scrapped altogether. The sex scene was going to be with Abigail. The film's opening chase scene was originally scripted for its predecessor (Blade II), but was scrapped due to budget concerns. The director wanted to include the scene, regardless of how much it was to cost. Another scene that was included, yet was originally scrapped, was the Vampire Blood farm scene (which featured human victims who were brain dead yet kept alive for their blood supplies). This scene was supposed to be featured in the first Blade movie. The director again wished to include it, to demonstrate the superiority of the vampire race, and that they are beginning to take over the world. In Blade II, Snipes defeated the vampire security guards by using a few wrestling moves (which included a standing suplex and other moves). Two years later, WWE professional wrestler and former World Heavyweight Champion Triple H was cast into the film as Jarko Grimwood. Triple H used a lot of wrestling moves also, including a running powerslam, and his trademark "knee to the face" move. Apart from the running powerslam move, Ryan Reynolds (who played Hannibal King) took the brunt of Triple H's wrestling moves, refusing to allow a stuntman to "do his job". Reynolds and Jessica Biel went through a grueling training regime all in an attempt to keep fit and stay true to their comic book counterparts. Biel, Reynolds and Dominic Purcell all went on a strict diet as well. The scene of Blade on his knees, resting (or meditating) was originally scripted as having him hanging upside down like a bat and sleeping. This idea was scrapped from the script due to the difficulty of pulling the trick off. In the scene when Hedge (Patton Oswalt) is introduced, he is seen wearing a Fantastic Four t-shirt displaying the 4's logo. David S. Goyer had prepared this particular sequel as grounds for a spin-off focusing on the Nightstalkers, but between the lackluster box-office and lack of audience interest, the spin-off never materialized. Abigail Whistler was created exclusively for the film, much like Whistler himself was for the original. Although Whistler did appear in the Spider-Man animated series before his film appearance. David S. Goyer claims that Whistler was taken directly from him, right under his nose. Script An early idea of David S. Goyer was to include not only Hannibal King, but Frank Drake as well. Goyer early on changed Frank Drake to Frankie Drake, a female character with the same role. He then changed her to a female character called Rachel Van Helsing from the Tomb of Dracula comics, but then he heard about the movie Van Helsing and decided against it. He ended up creating the character of Abigail Whistler, Whistler's daughter, in her place, because it would have a stronger connection with the previous films' continuity. Background * An issue of The Tomb of Dracula makes a cameo appearance. This is the comic series that originally introduced Blade, Deacon Frost, and Hannibal King. Release For a limited time, the DVD release included a comic book that covered Abigail and Hannibal's origins prior to freeing Blade within the film. Lawsuit Both Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson, who at the time had become good friends after working on the two previous Blade installments, were reportedly unhappy with this movie and with David S. Goyer's script decisions. They felt that too many new characters were added to the universe, and that Blade did not need any sidekicks besides Whistler. In 2005, Snipes sued New Line Cinema and Goyer, claiming that the studio did not pay his full salary, that he was intentionally cut out of casting decisions and filmmaking process, despite being one of the producers, and that his character's screen time was reduced in favor of costars Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel. Snipes contends that Goyer, his fellow producers, and New Line kept him out of the project's decision process, which ended up harming the film's performance (it made just $52 million, compared to the previous installments that had made $70 million and $82 million respectively). He says that a portion of his salary - $3.6 million - was withheld as punishment. The suit is still pending. Language In the DVD special features director David S. Goyer talks about how cities are often multilingual. For example Blade: Trinity is shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where signs are in English. Goyer decided to use the Esperanto language and flag as part of the fictional city where Blade is set. The Esperanto flag is shown twice, at the entrance to the Police headquarters after Blade is rescued from jail, and on rooftop scene where Drake threatens to drop a baby over the edge. Background elements such as signs and advertisements include Esperanto translations. Hannibal King is at one point seen watching the Esperanto language film Incubus on television, with one reviewer unkindly remarking that first time director "Goyer's grasp of directorial fundamentals (such as when to tilt the camera and when to shoot in close-up) is about as strong as Shatner's fluency in Esperanto." The film's Director of Photography Gabriel Beristain makes a cameo appearance as the one-eyed newspaper vendor who talks to Whistler in Esperanto and discusses the public perception that Blade is a menace to society. Reception Box office The film's American box office take proved disappointing, at only $52 million. Internationally it was somewhat more successful, pulling the film's overall gross to $129 million, matching the first Blade's take but coming behind Blade II, which grossed $150 million worldwide. Critics The film was a critical disappointment, earning a rating of only 26% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 157 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes included the film at 76 out of 94 on a countdown of the best comic book to film adaptations. Roger Ebert, who gave Blade 3 stars out of 4Blade :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews and Blade II 3½ stars,Roger Ebert Blade II : Reviews gave Blade: Trinity only 1½ stars, writing: "It lacks the sharp narrative line and crisp comic-book clarity of the earlier films, and descends too easily into shapeless fight scenes that are chopped into so many cuts that they lack all form or rhythm."Roger Ebert Blade: Trinity : Reviews Bob Longino of the Atlanta Journal said "It's silly, violent fun, sometimes mindlessly entertaining but hardly, if ever, engaging". Soundtrack A soundtrack containing hip hop music and electronic music was released on November 23, 2004 by New Line Records. It peaked at #68 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #15 on the Top Soundtracks. References External links * * * * * * * [http://marvel.com/movies/Blade.Blade:_Trinity Blade: Trinity] at Marvel.com * [http://www.horrorlair.com/scripts/blade3.html Blade: Trinity] script at HorrorLair * Blade turns Ten. Interviews with the cast. Category:2004 films Category:2000s action films Category:2000s horror films Category:2000s thriller films Category:New Line Cinema films Category:Blade (comics) films Category:American action thriller films Category:Martial arts horror films Category:Martial arts science fiction films Category:English-language films Category:Esperanto-language films Category:Dracula films Category:Sequel films Category:Films shot in Vancouver Category:2004 Category:Film Category:Non-Universal Film